Abstract: A Web-based call routing management workstation application which allows authorized customers to control toll free routing and monitor call center status. An architecture including one or more web servers located in a firewalled demilitarized zone (DMZ) as communications medium between the customer workstations at the customer sites and the enterprise back-end applications providing the call routing management services, provides a secure infrastructure for accessing the enterprise applications via the otherwise insecure public Internet. The present invention enables creation and management of call by call routing rules by a customer with a workstation having an Internet access and a supported Web browser. The customized rules may be tested and/or debugged via the Web-enabled workstation, using a debugger/tester which runs the routing rules under a simulated environment. In addition, customers may provision hierarchies for their business; create, modify or delete agent pools; manipulate capacity tables; and define quota schemes, value lists and schedule tables, all at the customer site via the Web-enabled workstation. The present invention also enables the customers to view near real-time displays of call center ACD statistics and peg counts based on routing rules, as well as, run provisioning and statistical reports on provisioning and statistical data and also to extract the data for further analysis. Additionally, the present invention supports foreign language and branding features on a graphical user interface. An infrastructure is provided which enables secure initiation, acquisition, and presentation of the call manager functionalities to customers from any computer workstation having a web browser and located anywhere in the world.

Abstract: A Web-based authentication system and method, the system comprising at least one Web client station, at least one Web server station and an authentication center. The Web client station is linked to a Web cloud, and provides selected biometric data of an individual who is using the Web client station. The Web server station is also linked to the Web cloud. The authentication center is linked to at least one of the Web client and Web server stations so as to receive the biometric data. The authentication center, having records of one or more enrolled individuals, provides for comparison of the provided data with selected records. The method comprises the steps of (i) establishing parameters associated with selected biometric characteristics to be used in authentication; (ii) acquiring, at the Web client station, biometric data in accordance with the parameters; (iii) receiving, at an authentication center, a message that includes biometric data; (iv) selecting, at the authentication center, one or more records from among records associated with one or more enrolled individuals; and (v) comparing the received data with selected records. The comparisons of the system and method are to determine whether the so-compared live data sufficiently matches the selected records so as to authenticate the individual seeking access of the Web server station, which access is typically to information, services and other resources provided by one or more application servers associated with the Web server station.

Abstract: A double firewalled system is disclosed for protecting remote enterprise servers that provide communication services to telecommunication network customers from unauthorized third parties. A first router directs all connection requests to one or more secure web servers, which may utilize a load balancer to efficiently distribute the session connection load among a high number of authorized client users. On the network side of the web servers, a second router directs all connection requests to a dispatcher server, which routes application server calls to a proxy server for the application requested. A plurality of data security protocols are also employed. The protocols provide for an identification of the user, and an authentication of the user to ensure the user is who he/she claims to be and a determination of entitlements that the user may avail themselves of within the enterprise system. Session security is described, particularly as to the differences between a remote user's copper wire connection to a legacy system and a user's remote connection to the enterprise system over a “stateless” public Internet, where each session is a single transmission, rather than an interval of time between logon and logoff, as is customary in legacy systems.

Abstract: A system and method for opening and tracking trouble tickets over the public Internet. A customer service management system provides information included within a customer profile record to a Web enabled infrastructure which is accessible by a remote customer workstation having a web browser and Internet access. The customer profile information is used to prepopulate data fields in dialogs used to open a trouble ticket. Once a trouble ticket is opened, the customer workstation tracks the existing trouble tickets through a browser based graphical user interface. The graphical user interface provides current and historical status reports of the actions taken to resolve a network event and the service organizations responsible for resolving the network event.

Abstract: There are many methods and techniques for delivering instruction through the Web. Academic and industrial courses (taught in a traditional classroom) can be enhanced with links to resources on the Web, or the courses can be delivered virtually—completely via the Web. Instructional content can be delivered through email “correspondence-type” courses, via Web pages written in HTML, or with very complex interactions developed with Java, JavaScript, Shockwave, ActiveX, or other tools. In this article, a range of Web-based instructional options is outlined, general guidelines for designing Web-delivered instruction are provided, and two case studies are discussed. In addition, links to example Web-based training (WBT) sites are included. This article was originally published on the ITForum, an international listserv that is subscribed to by over 1000 professors, graduate students, and practitioners in Instructional Technology. General reactions to the article (that were posted on the ITForum), and responses from the author are included as postscripts to this article.

Abstract: A data warehousing infrastructure for telecommunications priced call detail data is integrated with a Web/Internet based reporting system providing a common GUI enabling the requesting, customizing, scheduling and viewing of various types of priced call detail data reports. Such an infrastructure performs an extraction process to obtain only those billing detail records of entitled customers, and a harvesting process for transforming the billing records into a star schema format for storage in one or more operational data storage devices. The system is integrated with a database server supporting expedient and accurate access to the customer's telecommunications priced call detail data for priced call detail data report generation.

Abstract: A Web-based invoice viewing system and method for enabling a customer to generate invoices relating to various network services provided to the customer by an enterprise. A Web enabled invoice viewing system provides billing and invoice information to remote customers having a workstation with a Web browser and an Internet access. A graphical user interface system at the customer workstation presents a list of invoice documents organized into products and date ranges applicable to the customer for the customer to select and view. Various displays presented at the customer workstation may be printed, faxed, or queued for batch printing at the enterprise remotely. The customer is enabled to view dynamically summed results of numerical figures displayed on the invoice documents by highlighting the numbers in the document directly on the display.

Abstract: An Intranet/Internet/Web-based data management tool that provides a common GUI enabling the requesting, customizing, scheduling and viewing of various types of priced call detail data reports pertaining to a customer's usage of telecommunications services. The Web-based reporting system tool comprises a novel Web-based, client-server application integrated with an operational data management/storage infrastructure that enables customers to access their own relevant data information timely, rapidly and accurately through the GUI client interface. The data management system infrastructure is designed to enable the secure initiation, acquisition, and presentation of telecommunications priced call detail data reports to customer workstations implementing a web browser.

Abstract: From the Publisher: A state-of-the-art guide on how to build intelligent Web-based applications using Java Joseph and Jennifer Bigus update and significantly expand their book on building intelligent Web-based applications using Java. Geared to network programmers or Web developers who have previously programmed agents in Smalltalk or C++, this practical book explains in detail how to construct agents capable of learning and competing, including both design principles and actual code for personal agents, network or Web agents, multi-agent systems and commercial agents. New and revised coverage includes agent tools, agent uses for Web applications (including personalization, cross-selling, and e-commerce), and additional AI technologies such as fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms.

Abstract: A Web-based fault and alarm management tool that enables customers to monitor and analyze the performance of their voice and data network via a graphical user interface (20) is provided. The tool provides customers an Internet/Intranet (22) access to near real-time alarms, events, and performance statistics and configuration reports corresponding to their switched network, including voice network, broadband, dedicated point-to-point circuits, and signaling services (30), for enabling customers to make informed network management decisions. A Web-based fault and alarm management infrastructure which enables the secure initiation, acquisition, and presentation of customer reports relating to network management via a Web browser on any computer is also provided.

Abstract: A computer system and method for analysis and translation of Web on-line menu architectures to Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu architectures. The system analyzes Uniform Resource Location (URL) links in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents that comprise the Web menus and develops corresponding IVR menus. Once the system has developed a validated IVR menu architecture, the system supports both on-line Web users and IVR users with a common set of structured information databases. The system and method also supports analysis and translation of IVR menu architectures to support Web on-line users. The common information databases contain the IVR and Web menu architectures as well as product specifications and prices.

Abstract: This paper describes a conceptual, web-based, intelligent fashion agent designed to assist the consumer in the fashion selection and purchasing process via electronic commerce. The agent is a hybrid system combining expert system software and web technology. Fashion selection is a complex process involving multiple objectives, criteria and alternatives that can be resolved by an expert system. Based on the development of the prototype Web-Based Interactive Fashion Expert (WIFE) system, problems with the conceptual system are identified and solutions proposed where applicable.

Abstract: A Web/Internet based reporting system provides a common GUI enabling the requesting, customizing, scheduling and viewing of various types of reports generated by different server applications and/or application platforms. The reporting system includes a report manager, report scheduler and report requestor applications capable of defining, creating, managing and tracking specific reports that are available to customers in accordance with customer entitlements. Metadata messaging employed to enable specific report option presentation, report customization and report execution/scheduling options. A Web-based system infrastructure is provided that enables the acquisition and secure presentation of customer reports to customers from any client browser application.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method of performing user authentication on web based applications, such as IBM's Network Station Configuration Preference Manager. In particular, the system and method save and continuously pass user information (29) back and forth between a web client (12) and a web server (16). The user information (29) can then be used by CGI programs (20) being executed on the web server (16) for authentication purposes. Specifically, each CGI program will examine the user information (29), determine the authority privileges of the user, run the CGI program under a non-default user mode, return user information back to the web client (12), and return the CGI job to run in a default user mode.

Abstract: Why deliver instruction on the Web? principles of adult eduction the Web-based training process assessing learner needs selecting the most appropriate Web-based training method designing lessons asynchronous interactions creating blueprints evaluating programs ready, set, go. Appendices: tools for developing Web-based training training organizations listservs, threaded discussions, notes conferences, and forums selected bibliography matrix of Web-based training types netiquette.

Abstract: Information mediators are systems capable of providing a unified view of several information sources. Central to any mediator that accesses Web-based sources is a set of wrappers that can extract relevant information from Web pages. In this paper, we present a wrapper-induction algorithm that generates extraction rules for Web-based information sources. We introduce landmark automata, a formalism that describes classes of extraction rules. Our wrapper induction algorithm, STALKER, generates extraction rules that are expressed as simple landmark grammars, which are a class of landmark automata that is more expressive than the existing extraction languages. Based on just a few training examples STALKER learns extraction rules for documents with multiple levels of embedding. The experimental results show that our approach successfully wraps classes of documents that can not be wrapped by existing techniques.

Abstract: We propose a new approach to programming Web applications that increases the Web's computational power, the Web's flexibility, and Web programmer productivity. Whereas Web servers have traditionally been responsible for producing all content, intermediaries now provide new places for producing and manipulating Web data. We define intermediaries as computational elements that lie along the path of a Web transaction. In this paper, we describe the fundamental ideas behind intermediaries and provide a collection of example applications. We also describe WBI, an implemented architecture for building intermediaries that we have used to construct many applications, including personal histories, password management, image distillation, collaborative filtering, targeted advertising, and Web advising.

Abstract: The use of the World Wide Web in higher education is increasing at an exponential rate. However, little research has been done on the quality and nature of students' learning in a Web based system. This paper discusses the views of students on an experiment at Aberdeen University in which the Web was used to replace face to face lectures. The results suggest that students exercised greater choice of when to study and experienced few problems of lack of access to computers or of technical failures. The experiment appears to have saved students time and not to have involved them in much financial expenditure. The findings as to how the students actually used the Web materials were less encouraging. Most students appear to have printed a paper copy of the Web documents at the earliest opportunity, while only a minority of students went in search of other relevant Internet sites. The experiment suggests that the transition from a traditional to a computer based system will involve considerable investment of time by lecturers new to the Web, in the acquisition of new skills and the preparation of Web materials. The Web has great potential to benefit students' learning but there are few shortcuts to the realisation of this potential.

Abstract: This paper introduces a methodology for the development of applications for the WWW. Web applications are modelled at the conceptual level by using HDM-lite, a design notation supporting the specification of the structural, navigational, and presentation semantics of the application. Conceptual specifications are transformed into a logical-level representation, which enables the generation of the application pages from content data stored in a repository. The proposed approach is substantiated by the implementation of the Autoweb System, a set of software tools supporting the development process from conceptual modelling to the deployment of the application pages on the Web. Autoweb can be used both for developing new applications and for reverse engineering existing applications based on a relational representation of data.

Abstract: A web/Internet-based Outbound Network Management tool that enables customers of telecommunications network providers to modify outbound access to their virtual networks via a Web/Internet-based graphical user interface. Via a secure Web/Internet-based connection, the tool enables customers to add, create, modify or view their outbound network telecommunications network assets including: calling party numbers, calling cards, virtual network dialing plans, and their Code ID/Set attributes and features associated with their virtual networks.

Abstract: JAWAA is a simple command language for creating animations of data structures and displaying them with a Web browser. Commands are stored in a script file that is retrieved and run by the JAWAA applet when the applet's Web page is accessed through the Web. JAWAA commands allow for creation and movement of primitive objects (circles, lines, text, rectangles) and data structure objects (arrays, stacks, queues, lists, trees and graphs). A JAWAA script can be generated as the output of a program written in any language.

Abstract: A Web/Internet based monitoring system provides a common GUI enabling the requesting and real-time viewing of telecommunication network traffic and statistical data pertaining to a customer's telecommunication network. Such a monitoring system includes: a client browser application located at a client workstation for enabling interactive Web based communications between a customer and the monitoring system; at least one secure server for managing client sessions over the Internet via one or more secure connections; a device for generating statistical data based on real-time call data obtained from a telecommunications network, the statistical data being generated according to a pre-defined user profile; a mechanism for periodically retrieving the statistical data according to the user profile and for integrating the retrieved statistical data within a Web page for presentation to the user over a secure socket connection at pre-defined intervals. The Web page is updated to contain the latest generated statistical data at each interval.

Abstract: The paper describes the ARANEUS Wel-Base Management System [l, 5, 4, 61, a system developed at Universitb di Roma Tre, which represents a proposal towards the definition of a new kind of data-repository, designed to manage Web data in the database style. We call a WebBase a collection of data of heterogeneous nature, and more specifically: (i) highly structured data, such as the ones typically stored in relational or objectoriented database systems; (G) semistructured data, in the Web style. We can simplify by saying that it incorporates both databases and Web sites. A Web-Base Management System (WBMS) is a system for managing such Web-bases. More specifically, it should provide functionalities for both database and Web site management. It is natural to think of it as an evolution of ordinary DBMSs, in the sense that it will play in future generation Web-based Information Systems the same role as the one played by database systems today. Three natural requirements arise here:first, the system should be fully distributed: databases and Web sites may be either local or remote resources; second, it should be platform-independent, i.e., it should not be tied to a specific platform or software environment, coherently with the nature of the Internet; finally, all system functionalities should be accessible through a hypertextual user interface, based on HTML-like markup languages, i.e., the system should be a site itself. We can list three main classes of applications that a WBMS should support, in the database spirit: (1) queries: the system should allow to access data in a Web-base in a declarative, high-level fashion; this means that not only structured data can be accessed and queried, but also semistructured data in Web sites; (2) views: data coming from heterogeneous sources should be possibly reorganized and integrated in new Web-bases, in order to provide different views over the original data, to be navigated and queried by end-users; (3) updates: the process of maintaining Web sites is a delicate one which should be carefully supported;

Abstract: Want to launch a virtual enterprise using the Web as your technology infrastructure? First learn what's missing from today's Web architecture and which extensions are needed for large-scale collaboration. T he WorldWide Web connects islands of information, along with the people seeking that information, from within corporate intranets and across the global Internet, easily and effectively. Sharing information without regard to physical location has prompted new forms of virtual business and social endeavors. A virtual enterprise is an organization uncon-strained by geographic location, and a membership intersecting multiple traditional organizations. Virtual enterprises can be formed within large corporations (consisting of groups at distributed sites), as parts of business alliances or task forces [4], and even among individuals working independently of any corporate connection. Indeed, all that is needed to form a virtual enterprise is at least one common goal, a shared information space, a means of coordinating users' efforts, and people willing to share the work. The Web provides the minimum for setting up such enterprises by enabling identification of shared goals and the people who share them, by providing a standard mechanism for reading the shared information space, and by supporting coordination via email archives. However, the existing Web support infra

Abstract: In this article I list eight guiding principles to help web‐based instructional designers in their work. While the designing for web‐based instruction is more like designing for any other delivery system than not, still there are areas of differential emphasis. The corollary to that rule is that designers and teachers should not try to duplicate on‐line what they do in place‐based, face‐to‐face classrooms and instruction. Similarly, the designer should keep in mind that if face‐to‐face meetings are a possibility, there needs to be a conscious decision with the stakeholders to determine if a mixed mode of on‐line and face‐to‐face classroom meetings would enhance the overall learning experience.

Abstract: An Intranet/Internet/Web-based data management tool (17) that provides a common GUI (207) enabling the requesting, customizing, scheduling and viewing of various types of unpriced call detail data reports pertaining to a customer's telecommunications network traffic (22). The Intranet/Internet/Web-based (17) reporting system appllication comprises a novel Web-based, client-server application that enables customers to access their own relevant data information timely, rapidly and accurately through a client GUI. A periodic acquisition of data from the customer's telecommunications network (22) at a user-specified frequency and configured to meet real-time traffic reporting requirements (34). The system infrastructure provided enables secure initiation, acquisition, and presentation of unpriced call detail and statistical data reports to customers.

Abstract: An Internet/Intranet World Wide Web (Web)-based centralized common interface repository system for event notifications and report outputs generated by different server applications and/or application platforms is provided as a message center (252). Such message center includes a common graphical user interface to a customer for viewing and receiving the report outputs and event notifications. The report outputs and event notifications are communicated in priority order using multithreading and multiprocessing mechanism wherein multiple messages may be serviced or received simultaneously (252 (a)-(g)). An Internet/Intranet Web-based information delivery system infrastructure capable of providing for the secure initiation, acquisition, and presentation of information from any customer computer platform having a Web browser is also provided.

Abstract: A Universal Messaging system provides e-mail, voice-mail and fax-mail services to subscribers that may utilize the Internet to access their messages. The system integrates an e-mail messaging system with a voice/fax messaging system on a messaging platform computer. E-mail messages are stored in an e-mail message store, and voice and/or fax messages are stored in a separate store controlled, e.g., by a Voice Mail Message Manager (VMMM). Subscribers can access messages from a personal computer via the Internet using a standard Web browser with an applet that present each subscriber with a “universal inbox” that displays all of that subscriber's voice, fax, and e-mail messages. A Web platform controls the Web browser interface to the messaging platform, accepting requests from the Web browser (such as a request to read an e-mail or listen to a voice mail) and passing prescribed types of information back to the Web browser. The Web platform interfaces with the messaging platform via a generic TCP/IP interface/router. A Session Manager application manages the Web browser's “session” with the messaging system. A CMC layer in the messaging platform provides the “glue” to enable communication and control between and among the different message stores. The CMC layer provides an industry standard mechanism for providing a standard API through which access to proprietary message stores can be made.